Modesto officials to discuss city budget, spending $47.3 million pandemic windfall
The City Council’s Finance Committee will hold several days of workshops starting Monday for Modesto’s 2021-22 budget year, which starts July 1.
The workshops will include a discussion about a tentative spending plan for the $47.3 million the city will receive under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan, the federal government’s latest pandemic relief effort.
Members of the public can attend the meetings and participate through Zoom, the videoconferencing platform, or in person in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place. Those who attend in person will need to follow such precautions as wearing a mask and practicing physical distancing.
More about the workshops is available at www.modestogov.com/746/Standing-Committees-Agendas-Minutes and then by clicking on the meeting link.
The workshops are scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Workshops are scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, if needed.
Detailed information about the upcoming budget was not immediately available.
But Monday’s meeting will be about the general fund. The fund is heavily reliant on sales, property and other taxes, so it’s a good barometer of the local economy. The fund also primarily pays for public safety, and it’s the one fund the City Council has wide discretion over how to spend.
Modesto expects to get half of its $47.3 million in May, along with complete guidance from the U.S. Treasury on how it can spend the money and the balance of the funding a year later.
The money can be spent to respond to the coronavirus public health emergency and its negative economic impacts. Modesto officials have talked about the city’s need for the money to replace its lost revenue, as well as projects that would benefit the community.
The Finance Committee will forward the budget to the full City Council for adoption ahead of the July 1 start of the next budget year.
